Chapter five:

The time comes and Mello arrives to Matt's room standing just outside the door. He finds that it is quiet inside so he pauses for a moment as he wonders if Matt actually managed to convince them. He takes a quiet breath telling himself that there is only one way to find out. He opens the door and heads inside. He does find that they are all inside turning to look to him as he enters.

Near is sitting on the bed at the bottom end with his legs dangling off the edge. A finger of his twirling a strand of his own hair.

Matt is sitting cross legged by his pillow with his hands on his knees.

A and BB are sitting on the floor facing each other though have both turned to look to Mello as he enters.

"Close the door." Near tells the blonde calmly to which Mello does just that.

Mello strides with confidence over to them and sits not too far from BB and A.

BB turns to look to Near. "I still don't understand why you let this bone muncher convince us to do this." He tells the other causing Matt to bark out a 'hey!' at being called a bone muncher.

"Quiet." Near looks to meet BB's eyes as if strongly commanding him. His finger not even pausing in the twirling of his hair. "We have already been over this and the decision is final. No arguing." He turns back to Mello while BB turns away with a slight huff. "Alright Mello. Let us begin." He gets a nod from the eager blonde. "And remember that anything we share here is confidential. You break it and I will handle you myself. Do you understand." He looks glad when Mello nods his head. "Alright. It is not common for vampires and werewolves to work together however we have made a special deal with Matt here to share the territory and to work together. That is all that you need to know about that part. All creatures have their own communication that only their species can understand. For vampires it is hisses and werewolves can communicate with dog noises as well as howls. There is too many various languages to really go over."

Mello is jotting all of this in his head as he listens to each part that he is told about.

"There is too much information to really go over. How about we switch to questions?" Near suggests looking to Mello.

Mello thinks of something right away. "Does the full moon affect werewolves?"

Eyes turn to Matt though they all seem to know the answer.

"Yeah. I can transform whenever I want to. However when the full moon happens then I turn full wolf. Full moon is horrible as I become more feral like. Also known as more like a wild wolf. I usually try to get as far away from everyone as I can on those nights." Matt explains to Mello. "Since I could hurt someone or force them to become a werewolf like me."

"I see." Mello does suppose that it makes sense and does explain how during the full moon Matt tends to want to be alone. He moves on to his next question. "Just how old are you?" He sends the question more directed at the vampires though can also include Matt as well. "Do you have longer lifespans than humans?"

"Vampires have a much much longer lifespan. Werewolves only slightly." Near is the one to answer this. "If a vampire is careful then they can live so long that you may not believe it. Currently the record is eight centuries for vampires. Though most only about six centuries if they keep mostly out of trouble. I myself am only a century and half." His answer almost makes Mello want to spit out a drink if he was drinking anything. "BB and A are both two centuries old. While Matt is only half a century old. Werewolves only live for about two to three centuries. The record for werewolves is three centuries and ten years."

Those numbers are still a lot to Mello and he glances to Matt. "And somehow I am smarter than you?"

Matt shrugs to this glancing away. "Maybe I just don't really care as much as you do." He slightly huffs though Mello just shakes his head before moving on to his next question.

"Do you guys age or just get stuck how you are?"

"Natural born vampires and werewolves do age. Just at a different rate than humans. Vampires become known as teens at a century old. I am in my mid teens with A and BB in their late teens. Vampires become adults in two and a half centuries old. Then elders at five and half centuries." Near explains to Mello. "Werewolves on the other hand become teen age at forty years. Then adults at a century old. And elders at two and a half centuries old. However those that are turned are different. They still have the same lifespan expectancy however they will not age. They will remain forever at the age they were turned at until they die. There is a universal agreement with all those that this affects that no children will be turned. Everyone agrees that it is too cruel to force a child to be a child forever. Thus each group has their own harsh punishments, usually involving death, for any who dare to break this law."

"Hm." Mello hums softly at hearing this. "I see. So you guys have a whole law system."

Matt nods to this as he speaks up this time. "Sure do. We have our laws, some differences for each species, others are universal laws for all species. We also have ranks that vary from species to species. Vampires is more simple and werewolves are more complicated. Vampires have a human like system with rulers, higher ups including royal guards, regulars, and low leveled ones. Most fit in the regulars spot. Werewolves have a king and queen alpha who is like rulers, pack alphas and royal guards are on the same level, betas including of the king and queen, pack members, loners, and omegas. That basically speaks for itself."

"What rank are you all?" Mello inquires and he glances to them all as the room suddenly gets very quiet.

BB jumps to his feet after a few moments of tense silence hang in the air. "That is enough!" He declares before storming out.

A looks to Mello before glancing to Near. He gets up after that and chases after BB.

"I agree that we should stop here for now." Near gets off of the bed and leaves the room.

Mello isn't sure when Near stopped twirling his hair though he is only really noticing it now. He looks to Matt who glances away. "What was that all about? Surely I didn't say something wrong."

"Things are kind of complicated with our ranks." Matt sighs softly. "We can't discuss it as easily."

Mello is now even more curious about this.

"But if you know what is good for you then you would leave it alone." Matt gets Mello to his feet then pushes him towards the door. "Go study or whatever." He gets the blonde out then shuts his door.

Mello stands there very confused in the hallway.

What are they trying to hide?